R&R in San Pedro

Monday 25 May to Wednesday 3 June

We caught the water taxi to San Pedro on Isla Bonita. The 90 minute ride was pleasant with a warm breeze blowing across the Caribbean.

A taxi drove us the the Isla Bonita Yacht Club, our home for the next 8 days.

We had a stunning room in this small resort, overlooking the pool and the beach. We had a bedroom and a bathroom, a kitchen, living area and dining area and an outside veranda. It was enormous and luxurious, compared to other accomodation we had experienced.

We unpacked and arranged some washing – in a real washing machine. Our little apartment looked like a Chinese laundry as we hung clothes from the few clothes hangers, our portable clothes line and safety pins.

We cooked meals and went for walks. We caught up on paperwork and blogs. It was like a real holiday – a change of pace and place.

We found time to chat to the boys.

Hayden and Andrea were moving, driving from Barcelona to Berlin where they intend to live for the next few years. Hayden has a job with HERE and Andrea was subsequently offered a place at Uberall. It was good to keep tabs with them during their four day, 2,000km drive.

Evan also suggested ‘a chat’. It was our Friday afternoon, their Saturday morning and they were sitting up in bed for the Skype call.

That was when our travel plans changed. Ev & Steph announced they were getting married. The date wasn’t confirmed, neither was the format, but it would be soon. And could we be home to help celebrate?

Clearly there were more conversations while plans were formulated. And yes of course we would come home, but just for a few days to help them celebrate, then we would continue our planned drive across the USA. We had always planned to see them in New York in August before we really went home.

The other exciting activity we embraced in San Pedro was hiring a golf buggy, or ‘cart’ as they are called here, for half a day.

The island is narrow 1 to 2km across and the airstrip sits in the middle. The roads stretch 5km to the south and 8km to the north, with a few side roads.

We explored most of it, stopped at an interesting place over the water for a cool drink and we sat and watched a threatening thunder storm roll in.

We returned the buggy 4 hours later, feeling we’d done justice to any sightseeing opportunities.

San Pedro is a mix of locals and expats. The local community is Afro-Hispanic. Some of them are clearly involved in business such as water sports, vendors and waiting in restaurants. But there are a lot who appear to have nothing to do to fill their lives.

The expats, many from USA and Canada, live an easy going life. Most of them are retired. They live in condos or gated communities, drive golf buggies and some even run small businesses, such as coffee shops and real estate agencies. Life is cheaper here and lifestyle is more limited. You really have to be prepared to do without culture to live in a tropical paradise.

We found a decent code shop near our resort called Cafe Buzz. Greg & Deb ran it. Actually Deb ran it and Greg was the odd job man. They had bought the business with the only decent espresso machine in town and after Greg had stripped and cleaned it, their reputation for good coffee and decent home made lunch snacks started to take off.

We became regulars and enjoyed learning about life in an expat community.